KARACHI, 11 November 2004 — Unidentified gunmen shot dead three members of a Pakistani religious party here overnight in an apparent row over donations during the month of Ramadan, police said yesterday.

The assailants opened fire on members of the Karachi-based Sunni Tehreek outside a mosque in the city’s Shah Faisal Colony neighborhood late Tuesday and fled in a vehicle, leaving three people dead and four injured, senior police officer Mushtaq Shah said.

“The incident has nothing to do with sectarianism,” Shah told AFP.

The group has blamed the ethnic-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the killings, Shah said.

He said the incident could be linked to the collection of donations during Ramadan, when Muslims offer cash to help the poor, religious groups, charitable organizations and welfare bodies.

The incident triggered tension in the area, Shah said, adding that police and paramilitary troops had been deployed to keep the situation under control during the funeral of the slain men.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said yesterday terrorists from neighboring countries were crossing into Pakistan hampering the war on terror kicked off by Pakistan’s security forces.

He said foreign militants were still present in the tribal areas of South Waziristan and operation against them was continuing.

They are armed with sophisticated weapons much of which were being provided by those from across the border.

He said: “It is our effort to cut off the flow of weapons from outside.”

He said foreign militants were involved in a number of incidents in Wana recently.

Ten men, including three soldiers and six militants were killed and 25 injured in South Waziristan on Tuesday night as the army and Frontier Corps launched a military operation in the area inhabited by the Mahsud tribe.

Sources said the injured included 17 troops and eight militants. The soldiers were shifted to military hospitals, but there was no word as to where the militants were taken for treatment.

The remoteness of the area, lack of communication links and the tendency of the militants to take away their dead and injured made it difficult to get correct casualty figures.

The troops encountered resistance at certain places as they swept through areas formerly controlled by the militants. Gunship helicopters attacked eight suspected hide-outs of militants at Kharazay, Gharlama, Delay, Khonkhela, Chondkhel, Karama, Maopal, and Sarotai Manza. Long-range artillery was also extensively used to hit mountains occupied by the militants.